NEWS: Embleton and Webb added to coaching staff

The Club is extremely pleased to announce the appointments of Ross Embleton and Danny Webb to the coaching staff.

Embleton, who previously worked with the O’s Centre of Excellence as Youth Development Manager during Director of Football Martin Ling’s time as Orient boss, returns to the Club as the first team Assistant Coach.

Having worked at Orient between 2000 and 2009, Embleton spent three years at Tottenham Hotspur as Academy Integration Manager before returning to Spurs in 2014 following spells at AFC Bournemouth and Norwich City.

November 2015 then saw Embleton link up with Ling for a second time when appointed first team coach at Swindon Town - a role in which he held until departing the Robins at the end of the 2016-17 season.

Meanwhile, Webb also returns to the O’s as Youth Team Coach, having held several roles at the Club between 2011 and 2017, including the first team manager’s position for a period of last season.

The 33-year-old first joined the Club as under-14s coach in 2011, but progressed through the Academy with great success, guiding the under-16s to national recognition when they won the National Category Three Cup final in 2014.

Having stepped up to the under-18s at the start of the 2015-16 season, Webb led the youth team to the Merit League One Title with the O’s youngsters finishing unbeaten over the 10 games.

Last summer saw Webb promoted to first team coach ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, and during that season he was promoted to assistant manager before holding the role of first team manager for 12 matches between January and March.

Speaking on the appointments, Director of Football Martin Ling said; “I am very happy to be able to make these appointments.

“Ross knows this Club very well. I brought him over from working with the community to come and be my youth coach when I was managing here. I always saw the talent he had as a young coach, and he has now served a good apprenticeship in terms of working at the likes of AFC Bournemouth and becoming my first team coach at Swindon Town.

“He is someone that I know and trust, but he also has the same principles and ethos on the way I want football to be played. I like to get a togetherness within a staff unit and Ross will have a big role to play with the young players moving forward here, because I feel there needs to be coaching sessions put on in the afternoon for any player that is under 21 for them to continue to learn their profession.

“Ross will work with Danny Webb to join up in the afternoons to put on coaching sessions for the under-18s and first team players aged under 21 to continue to develop them as individuals.

“I think sometimes scholars get made into young professionals and people think they are the finished article, but this is something I have always done. It was put in place when I was manager here previously, and it came to fruition when I left this Club as we had a 24-man squad in which 12 of those had come through the system. It is a continuation of learning that will begin through Danny, though Ross and into the first team. Just because they have played first team games it does not mean they are not still learning.

“I believe the key learning period for players within a professional Football Club are between the ages of 16 and 21, and this allows them to maintain a good work ethic moving forward. It may consist of different types of work such as out on the pitch or in the gym, but Ross is a very good coach for young talent and he will be a great addition to what we are doing here.

“Coming in, I wanted to assess all positions within the Club so that is from the first team and all the way through the Academy. I wanted people to be part of what I believe is a big programme. My remit at the Football Club is from an under-9 and right up to a 35-year-old, so I wanted to ensure that all the components are in place to make sure there is a continual learning development within that system.

“Danny is not someone I have seen coach, but I have spoken to a lot of people and thought he did a good job when he was working in the first team with difficult circumstances. The good thing with Danny, is that when I asked where he wanted to be and where he felt his skill set was best suited for at this moment in time, Danny responded by saying it was with the under-18s.

“Straight away that made me happy because that is where I see his skill set. He had the taste of first team management but as he said to me, he knows he has got a lot of learning to do and with that it was a no-brainer once Danny expressed an interest in the youth team role.

“To put him back in an area where he has had an influence on young players before gives us some continuity as he has only been away from it for a year having stepped up to the first team last season. He has held an awful lot of different roles during that year, but it was really pleasing when Danny said where he felt his skill set was best suited. I feel he is right for it, and I also asked an opinion from someone who has been coached an awful lot by him in my boy, Sam. I did say to Danny tongue in cheek that he owes Sam a thank you, but Sam loved what Danny did and how he coached.

“Danny has got a big future, and I believe he will have a chance again to do what he did for a little period last season, but you can’t do that without the ground work and the foundations which Danny explained himself. It takes a brave man to admit where your skill set is and that you want to continue to learn.”